Lost and Found
by SamanthaSezs
Summary: Carla gives Michael an assignment to find a proverbial needle in a haystack.
1. Chapter 1

"What's the emergency mom?" Michael asks with no real urgency in his voice as walks into the house, unsure of his mother's current 'emergency'. "What is it this time? Can't get the digital alarm clock programmed? Need a lightbulb changed?"

Madeline sits on the couch and lights up another cigarette, happy to see her son walk through the door but at the same time annoyed that he would think she would call him over to help with some minor task. "Michael, this envelope came for you."

"You called me just to give me mail?" He instinctively looks around.

"It was on the doorstep, it had time sensitive written on it so I thought you needed to get it as soon as possible."

"How did it get here?" Michael eyes the postmark free envelope, addressed to him in an unfamiliar scrawl. He feels the envelope, no noticeable wires or bumpy explosive devices. "Did you see anyone drop if off? or hang around the street?"

"No Michael, there was a knock on the door, I looked out and didn't see anyone, I opened the door and there it was."

His phone rings a moment later.

"Don't be afraid to open it Michael." Comes Carla's commanding voice. "I promise it won't bite you. I'll even wait on the phone while you open it."

"Ok. Just a minute."

He walks out to the garage to open it. Inside is a newspaper clipping of an obituary for a man and several photographs of a man and a young lady.

"Her life is in danger; and I'm the only one that can help her. You have 72 hours to find her and bring her to me."

"Who is she and why?"

"71 hours and 59 minutes Michael. I'll be checking on your progress." Then the call comes to an end.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Six hours later…**_

"She" Sam holds up the picture of the female "is Kelly Colleen Rhodes, age 27, daughter of the deceased." Sam holds up a picture of the man. "Well known scientist Zachary Wayne Mitchell. He died of 'natural causes' two weeks ago. Kelly disappeared the day of the funeral, told friends and family that she needed time to grieve. Hasn't had contact with anyone, hasn't used her credit cards, cell phone or accessed bank accounts. It's like she dropped off the face of the earth."

"How do we know she's still alive?" Fi questions while looking at the picture of the woman and opening the last of the yogurts from the fridge and settling herself in a chair.

"Because Carla wouldn't be asking me to find her if she wasn't." Michael scowls at her. "What is her background/occupation?"

"She has a college degree, worked at a hospital in the records department. Excellent worker, no discipline problems. Got a speeding ticket last year, paid it and was in a single car accident a couple of months ago, police reports cited careless driving. I don't see what she would know that makes her so valuable."

"So why does Carla want her?" Fi responds uninterested. "And why isn't she and her goons looking for her?"

"It might have to do with her father. I really don't know, but she apparently thinks I can be less obvious and find her easier and quicker. It's just another little job she wants me to do."

"So how are we going to find her?"

_If you were a young woman running, from someone or something, where would you go in Miami?_

"Sam see if you can find out what she was into, likes, dislikes, associations, groups she belonged to. She might find a similar gathering here."

"Even if she is here, more than likely she changed her appearance." Sam begins to plan, this is his forte'. "I'll put a feeler out, I've got some basic statistics on her, along with identifying scars and marks."

Then Sam honestly asks. "Mike you really don't believe that Carla wants her to keep her safe do you?"

"I don't have a choice." He stares as Sam finishes off another beer. "I need this now."

Fi tries to defuse the situation. "Mike, you know if Carla wants her bad enough, why not just find the girl, tell her where she is, that way you'll have completed your task.

"I want to know why Carla wants her. I'll think of something after I find her, make a scene to let her get away before I turn her over, maybe fake her death or let someone else grab her. Make it believable enough so I'll still look good in Carla's eyes. So that will keep me on good terms with her."

-

-

_**28 hours later…**_

"Ok, Mikey, it wasn't easy and cost me a few favors" Sam walks in with a handful of stuff. "But this guy I know, said someone else he knows, said this chick walks in, wanting a new identify, cash on the barrel, paid extra to make sure no one would find out. Looks like Kelly, but shorter hair, now she's a dirty blonde now, and wearing glasses.

"How does he know it could have been her?"

"Guy said she has a scar on her wrist, same as in her profile. He's got surveillance pics of her. The facial features are the same." Sam hands over a couple of pics. "What do you think?"

Michael takes the two pictures, ones from Carla and ones from the surveillance, he's right the hair style and color have changed, but the facial features are something that weren't altered.

Michael takes some measurements of each facial picture and compares the two. The measurements are almost identical, it could be her, it had to be her. Kelly took great care to change what she could of her look.

But why is she running? He had to find her, talk to her and make alternate plans within the next 44 hours.

Michael's cell rings. He doesn't have to look at the caller id to know who it is. He steps away to take the call without Sam or Fi listening in.

"Yes Carla."

"Michael, just checking in with, hows it going, got any leads?"

"Oh, I'm looking, it's not going to be easy, Miami is a big city." He answers with a smile in his voice. "You never told me why you are interested in her."

Carla ignores the question again. "But you'll find her, I have faith in you, you don't want to risk failing do you?"

Michael clenches his teeth to stop his tongue from spitting out what he really wants to say.

"I'll even give you a nice bonus if you bring her in early, how's that for an incentive? And you have just over 43 hours." And with that parting remark, the call is ended.

She never lets me get the last word in. Michael thinks to himself.

"Sam, where does she live?"

"That's just it, the address he gave her is a vacant lot. But he thinks he can call someone to get a message to her. Leave her a message that he's got some more id paperwork for her. So we stake the place out and follow her."

"If she takes the bait, we need to come up with a plan b."

"Mikey…"

Michael doesn't want to hear the question again. "Yea Sam, I know."


	3. Chapter 3

**_42 hours later..._**

The plan to find her when she picked up the extra i.d. paperwork fell through, she showed up early in the morning, instead of calling to set up a time. The gal at the counter didn't know what she was talking about and Kelly left. It's like she suspected something was going on and she didn't take the bait again.

"Mikey" Sam talks while at the same time cursing at the traffic.

"Sam what's going on?"

"I think I've got a lead. She's got a throw away email account that she checks once or twice a day."

"How is that gonna help us if we don't know where she is?"

Sam makes a couple of more comments to another driver. "I'm getting to that, I've got someone monitoring the account, when she signs in they can trace it to where she's at. A couple of minutes ago she signed into her email account at an internet café. I'm five minutes away."

"Sam I'll meet you there."

"No wait, don't want to scare her off. Let me make sure she's there and its her first. I'll follow her then I'll call you back."

"No Sam..." but he hung up before Michael could get his attention.

-

-

Michael hangs up his phone as the call rolls over into voicemail…again. It's been over two hours and Sam still hasn't checked in.

Three hours later he finally gets a call.

"Michael." Sam was on the speakerphone option of his phone, that meant he couldn't talk freely. He was under duress. "I need you to meet me at…

"Sure, need me to bring anything."

"Some beer would be nice, Buddy, and maybe some lunch from Fi's." Sam was definitely in trouble.

"Michael, let me go in with you." Fi offers...again.

"No, I need you to stay in car just in case I need back up." He slowly creeps up the stairs of the abandoned warehouse to the designated room. He knocks on the door, after a short pause hears Sam's voice "Come on in. It's open."

He slowly opens the door, he doesn't see anybody yet. "Come on in Michael." Sam called him the formal name. Michael walks in a little more and hears a gun cock. "Michael just walk in and don't make any sudden movements, and shut the door behind you." Sam calmly tells him, his voice is calm like he is ordering another drink at the bar.

He shuts the door and looks to his left to face Sam bound in a chair, and the woman they are looking for, holding a gun at his head.

"I found her." Sam tries to grin.

"My name is Michael, look, we're not going to hurt you." Michael walks closer with his hands in plain sight. "We've been sent to find you, to keep you safe."

The woman just stares at him, unemotional and unmoving.

"Do you believe me?" Michael asks quietly.

She shakes her head. "I don't know, how do I know you're really here to help me?"

"You don't." He honestly replies.

"My dad said someone would find me and there is a specific conversation we are supposed to have. And you haven't done that and neither has he. How do I know you're not ones who killed my father." She then points the gun at Michael. "And yes I know how to use this, you can ask your friend."

Sam just nods in agreement.

"I can explain this, someone sent me to find you." As he reaches into his pocket, Kelly moves the gun back to Sam's temple.

I'm just reaching for my phone, I'm going to call someone who will be able to explain everything. That's all I'm going to do, just let me call someone."

"How do I know it's not a trap?"

"If it is, you can shoot him." Michael coolly replies.

Sam's eyes grow wide with that comment. "Hey buddy..."

Michael isn't sure if this is going to work, he knows Carla has this phone monitored, the phone she gave to him, via Victor. He has to bluff Kelly long enough to get her to call back.

He pretends to push a speed dial number. "Yea." He says happily into the phone. "You know that book were asking about? I think I have something you might be interested in. Give me a call back, Thanks."

He puts his hands up again. "Now we wait, someone will call right…"

Before he can finish his sentence the phone rings. "Can I answer it?"

Kelly nods.

"Yea" Michael listens to the caller. "Uh huh, ok, hold on."

He holds the phone out "She want to talk to you."

"Slide the phone over to me." Kelly orders him. Michael stoops down and slides the phone across the floor. Kelly picks up the phone. "Yes."

She looks at Michael, then she lowers the gun and takes a couple of steps back and carries on a conversation with Carla.

A few minutes later she walks back up. "Ok, thank you." she finishes talking on the phone. "She wants to talk to you again."

Kelly slides the phone back to Michael and puts the gun back in her pocket.

"Good job, Michael." Carla's cheerful voice comes from the phone. "Now we need to discuss where you'll be delivering her. I'll call back with instructions."

Meanwhile Kelly is cutting the ties holding Sam. "I am really sorry, I didn't know. I didn't hurt you did I?" She was apologizing profusely.

"No, I'm gonna be ok." Sam grimaces. "That's a first, being taken down by a girl."

"Can I at least buy you a beer?"

"Mikey, you didn't bring the beer, I was serious."

Michael grimaces. Sam just made a new best friend.

-

-

**_49 hours later..._**

Kelly takes them to an out of the way kitchenette where she's been staying.

"What does..did your dad do?" Fi prompts her over lunch and beers.

"He is...was a nuclear/chemical engineer."

"What did he do exactly." Michael questions here, trying to figure out why Carla is interested in her.

"I don't know, he never brought his work home with him, or talked about it."

"Why do you think he was murdered?" Fi asks, getting straight to the point. Michael rolls his eyes at her, real tactful.

Kelly is quiet for a couple of minutes. "A few months ago, Dad began acting strange. Getting these strange phone calls at home. He would take the calls in his home office, and I couldn't help overhearing him yelling at someone. A couple of times I picked up and listened on the other phone, it was a guy telling Dad that they needed the stuff and there would be no negotiations."

"Then a couple of months ago, I was ran off the road. I gave the police the best description of the car I could, but there were no witnesses and the police classified it as careless driving, said that I was driving to fast on the wet roads and was trying to blame it on someone else."

They nod as they watch her, she hugged herself and shivered, she was getting nervous. "That's when Dad really got paranoid. Talking about getting a bodyguard for the two of us. And there was another call that I listened in on. The caller, that same guy, told him my accident wasn't an accident. It was a warning and no personal body guards would be able to protect us.

"That's when…. when Dad gave me some cd's and flash drives, and told me that if anything ever happened to him, I was to go to Miami and someone would find me, even if I changed my appearance, that someone would find me and help me."

"He didn't say who?" Michael questions her.

She shakes her head. "No, and I kept them hidden until…the day of the funeral. I grabbed them and left."

"There's a report that the house was broken into." Sam questions here as he gets another beer.

She nods. "Yes, just hours after his death."

"Anything missing?"

"Not that I could tell, things were trashed, someone was looking for something. But couldn't find it. The police said several other houses in the neighborhood were broken into also. So ours wasn't the only one targeted."

"They hit other houses to throw suspicion off." Sam explains.

"What did you do?"

"After the funeral, I sold my car for a couple of hundred bucks and got this guys car and made my way here."

"Where you've been hiding, waiting for someone to find you." Fi gives her a sympathetic look. "where are the cd's now?

"They're safe and they're not here." Was all Kelly would say. She was holding the cards now.

"So you see my confusion, I knew someone was following me. I led him." pointing to Sam, "to the warehouse, I had no choice but to take him and find out if he was who I was supposed to meet, but he wasn't...and the rest is history.

Michael starts to ask another question when his phone rings.

"Let me talk to her." Carla demands.

"Hello, there." Michael begins to converse with her. "Nice to hear from you again. I thought we could..."

"That wasn't a request."

He silently hands the phone over to Kelly. "Hello" as she takes the phone, listens, looks at Michael, Sam and Fi, then turns, walks a couple of feet away and starts to talk quietly for a few minutes. Then she comes back with a troubled look on her face. "She wants to talk to you."

"Michael, don't try and trick me, you know it won't work and you won't like the results. Are we clear?"

"Yes."

_There are two theories to arguing with women. Neither one works._

Michael looks at the uncertainty in Kelly's face, he didn't know what Carlta told her so he takes her hand. "You can't trust Carla."

"Why?" Kelly argues, now near tears. "She knew what to say, you didn't. She said she sent you to find me, if it wasn't for her you'd two be shot by now."

_The less you trust someone, the more prepared you have to be._

Michael was going to have to work on getting Kelly to trust him...and fast...as he looked at his watch, 22 hours until the deadline...they were quickly running out of time.


	4. Chapter 4

"What did Carla tell you?" Michael asks Kelly as Fi and Sam make themselves scarce and start cleaning in the kitchen.

She lowers eyes as she lowers her voice. "That I'm not supposed to tell you what we talked about."

Michael scowls at her; he can't help her unless he knows what is going on behind the scenes, before he can explain that she continues. "And that I'm to trust you, not the other two."

"Why?"

Kelly just shrugs her shoulders "She specifically mentioned them by name. She talks, I listen, I'm in no position to bargain am I?"

"No, I don't guess you are." Michael looks at Sam and Fi as they try to act uninterested in what they are talking about.

"Mr. Westen…"

"Michael" He corrects her.

"She says to trust you so I have to, and she promised to answer my questions. But who is she?

Michael shakes his head. He can't really answer her so goes a different route. "Kelly, I want to see what's on those disks you have. Will you be willing to get them and let me look at them, make a copy and see what they have?"

"I don't see why not." She answers honestly.

"Where are they?"

"In a safety deposit box at a local bank." She was careful not to mention which bank it was.

"I'd like to look at them; are they password protected or have any kind of id-lock on them?" If they are he's gonna need her there to get access to them.

She thinks for a few minutes then shakes her head, "I really don't know, never looked at them and I can't get to them until tomorrow morning, when the bank opens."

With one hand Michael raises her chin so they look at each other eye to eye. "One more thing, if you trust me, you can't tell Carla about this."

"Why?" He can tell she's scared and confused about being the pawn in this little game.

__

If you follow these instructions to the letter, you should attain success. However, even one minor variation can cause irreversible disaster, in which case, remember: You have been warned.

"It's for our own good." Michael picks up his phone. "We need to find you somewhere else to stay tonight. Get some stuff together."

-

-

Fi walked Michael and Sam to the car as Michael explains what he is doing. "So they think we're moving her somewhere, you two should be safe here for the night. Sam and I are going to work on something that will even fool Carla."

"What is it?" Fi asks feeling left out.

Michael looks at her. "Fi I can't explain even it now, it's still in draft. I'll explain your part in it tomorrow, and you might even be able to shoot someone. Right now we need to let them think I'm going playing their game."

The idea of shooting someone brightens Fi's face. "Ok."

"I'll be back at 8 a.m. Make sure she's ready to go." He quietly tells her. "Call me if you need anything and **_before_** you do anything."

-

-

**_60 hours later..._**

The next morning Michael and Sam arrive at 8 a.m. and knock on the door...no answer. Michael knocks again as he and Sam take positions on either side of the door. They hear muffled sounds and voices inside the room but no one is coming toward the door.

Sam quickly and quietly gets the door open as they burst in to room and find the sounds and voices were coming from the television.

Following a quick search of the room they are sure of one thing...Fiona and Kelly are gone.


	5. Chapter 5

Michael immediately calls Fi only to get her voice mail, again. They survey the room and can't tell if anything is missing.

Fi's car was still outside so they didn't leave voluntarily.

A few minutes later they hear a noise at the door and take their places to take down whoever walks in.

To their surprise, Fi and Kelly walk in.

"Where the hell have you two been?" Michael yells.

"We went out for breakfast." Fi calmly replies standing in front of Kelly, trying to block her from his anger. "I thought we'd be back by 8, sorry, we're a couple of minutes late."

"Why didn't you call me?" He hisses through his teeth while trying to keep his temper in check with Kelly standing there.

"I called you, twice." Fi glares at him. "Got your voice mail and left a message each time."

Michael looks at his phone. No voice mail notification icon on it. He'll address that issue later.

"And why didn't you answer your phone?"

Fi looks at her phone. "Oh, I must've accidently turned it off."

Fi doesn't "accidently" do anything. She turned her phone off for a reason.

"Were you worried about me?" Fi smiles seductively after she sends Kelly to get ready.

"Not really." Michael tries to play if off as he keeps his brief outburse back under control. 'You can take care of yourself, I'm not so sure about Kelly."

-  
"Ok, you ready?" Michael leads the Kelly to the door. "Fi, Sam will explain everything to you. Give us a 5 minute head start. We'll see you there."

Michael ends up having to park the car in a local parking garage. He calls Sam and tells him where they parked, knowing he'll pass the info on to Fi and get set up.

The elevator wasn't working so they took the stairs down four flights of stairs to the ground level. Michael walking ahead of her making sure the coast was clear before motioning to her to follow.

"Ok. I'm going in with you, just tell them I'm a friend who is escorting you, don't give them any reason to suspect anything different."

"Uh huh." She replies nervously.

"Kelly it's going to be ok. I can get the stuff copied onto a computer in minutes. We're going to talk later about how we're turning y--…it over."

Michael wasn't going to tell her that he wasn't planning on turning her over or that the files given to Carla would be useless. He needed to keep Kelly in the dark until the last possible minute. He and Sam had worked all night to get things set up.

"Carla wants you to trust me, so I need you to." He reiterates.

She looks down for what seemed like an eternity before she finally nods and "Yes sir."

A block later they arrive at the bank shortly after it opens, making their way to the customer service desk. Kelly plays the part without remiss. She's convincing and friendly. The assistant takes her identification and signature and carefully compares it to the signature card for the safety deposit box number. At first the assistant has a nervous look on her face. Then she smiles and leads Kelly away, motioning that Michael has to stay put.

Michael carefully watches his surroundings and the customers. It's almost five minutes later Kelly and the Assistant reemerge; Kelly thanks the assistant and smilingly and calmly walks to Michael.

"Let's go."

"Where are they?"

"In my purse."

Michael takes her arm immediately noticing that it's cold. He smiles anyway as he leads her out of the bank.

"Ok?"

"I'm just getting a funny feeling about this."

_Women's intuition was something you should never overlook._

_So am I he thinks to himself. _"It's gonna be ok. I've got Sam and Fi set up at strategic points so they can jump in if we need help."

They pick up the pace as make their way back back to the parking garage, up the stairwell. Again, with Michael walking ahead to check out the surroundings before he lets her follow.

They make it back to the fourth floor, beginning to approach the car when four men, with guns, suddenly surround them. Michael looks at them; one of his arms protectively around Kelly, keeping her at his side at all times.

_Where the hell are Sam and Fiona?_ _They're supposed to be parked nearby watching them. Why haven't they made a move yet?_

Michael's primary objective is to protect Kelly. "I'm going to create a distraction and want you to…" he begins to whisper without moving his lips as he slowly looks around them to find a weak point. Michael stops when he sees...standing there…with a huge grin on his face….was their apparent leader.

Victor.


	6. Chapter 6

_Should your enemy suddenly appear at your door, there is one thing you absolutely must not do: Let him see your fear._

"Michael." As Victor steps closer, Michael can feel the fear running through Kelly's body as he steps in front of her.

"Don't make any sudden moves unless I tell you to." Victor calmly tells his captives then he laughs and sings "Red Rover, Red Rover…Send Kelly right over."

Kelly's fear transforms into an aggressive stance as she moves to confront Victor, not before being stopped by Michael. "That... voice...you...you're the one who was calling my father. Threatening him."

Victor smiles and mockingly bows at her. "Guilty as charged. I thought someone was listening in on some of those calls. You see if he had only listened to us and did what we asked, you wouldn't be in this predicament right now would you?"

"You killed my father." Her eyes narrow as she silently curses him.

"Personally no, but it happened. That's water under the bridge. Now you have what we want, hand it over."

"Victor" Michael slowly pulls her back and tries to negotiate "I've still got 10 hours to work. This can wait."

"Michael, you are too modest." He throws a bag toward them, it lands at Michael's feet with a thud. "Here's what we promised to pay, plus a nice bonus for bringing her in early."

"You bastard" Kelly turns on Michael hauling back and slapping him...hard. "You did this on purpose; you knew you were handing me over to him the whole time."

Michael sees the combination of disbelief, anger and fighting back the tears in her eyes as she cries out "Do you know what you've done? Who they are? You told me to trust you… And I did."

_Where are Sam and Fi?_

"It's not what…" before he can finish his sentence Victor grabs her and starts to pull her from Michael's grasp.

Somehow Carla knew what they were doing all along, she had bugged them somehow. Michael starts to pull Kelly back toward him...but the angry woman fights against both of them. Then the guns are pointed at Michael and that convinces him to release his grip on her.

"Hello Kel." Victor smirks while quickly wrapping plastic wrap ties tightly on her wrists. "You really didn't think I was gonna let you go that easy. Did you?" He mocks her as he cuts the strap to her purse.

"But-- " Kelly starts to argues before realizing that she's been setup by the one who promised to protect her.

Victor passes her over to one of the thugs before he starts to digs through her purse, throwing out excess stuff…lipstick, pens, makeup, gum.

Michael's heart is heavy as he sees the look of hurt and betrayal in her eyes. _Why did you do it?..._her pleading eyes ask him_._

He doesn't just feel powerless...he is.

Michael can't make her believe that this wasn't his idea, it wasn't supposed to happen like this. The look in his eyes tell her he'll do whatever it takes to get her out of this. Just believe in him.

Finally Victor holds up a couple of cd's and thumb drives. "Yep looks like its all here. You did good Michael, your plan could've used some some fine tuning, didn't think you'd be able to talk her into it. But overall it went over well didn't it?"

"Victor." Michael bargains trying to give them time and an exit. "You've got what you came for. Just let her go."

"Do I? How do we know we can access these files. You were right Michael, suppose they're password or id-locked. We have them and no way to get in?"

Kelly gives up the fight and becomes numb when she hears the same words from last night repeated, she and Michael had that same talk last night. Her instincts were right, something was wrong. That's why his "friends" weren't coming to their rescue, he set her up.

It was all part of their game.

"You can--" Michael starts to say something.

"We could have someone break the passwords?" Victor finishes his sentence. "Yes. But would we want to do they if we've got the password holder right here? It wouldn't be as much fun."

Victor turns to her with his own words of wisdom. "Just behave yourself, and you won't get hurt." He roughly caresses her face, after which she spits in his.

He reacts violently by backhanding her, hitting her with enough force that lands her on the ground, she's dazed and bloody as she's picked up by one of the goons.

"You belong to me now." Victor gets in her face and screams. "Do. You. Understand. Me?"

As Victor holds her, Michael helplessly watches as one of the goons puts a strange patch on her neck. In seconds the speechless, dazed figure turns limp in his arms.

With a sadistic look on his face, Victor turns back to Michael "A bit of advice, you just gotta know how to handle women."

As if summoned by an unseen signal, a van drives up, she is loaded into the back of van along with three of the men and they drive away.

"Don't try to follow me, or try find out where we are. If you do she gets punished and you don't want that on your conscience do you?"

Then he points his gun at Michael and shoots…the two left side tires on the charger. "So you don't get any ideas...and I'll ask Carla to pay for your new tires."

"Don't bother." Michael replies without emotion.

A sedan drives up; Victor and the last gunman walk to to the car while he continues with his directions. "You're friends will be released in about 10 minutes. Wait here for them."

_Once in a great while there occurs a satisfactory, even happy ending to a chapter of your life. Of course, there is always another chapter following, which in anything can, and often does, happen._

_And this was that chapter._


End file.
